Writing is not one activity. It is many. Knowing this can be key to your growth as a literary artist. There are a lot of myths about the writing process. One of the worst is the myth of talent--which is a catch-all word that seems designed to stop any further questioning. Talent, you see, is self-contained, impenetrable: opaque. "Well, he's talented." With that statement, we dismiss the possibility of looking inside the box, of finding out what it is that a writer does that makes him or her look talented.
Talent, like the words skill and experience, is useless when you want to learn how someone does something. Each of these terms takes something complex, multi-faceted and ultimately visible--if you know where to look--and makes it mysterious and opaque. So if I used any of these words in conversation or on this blog while I'm writer in residence here, please feel free to call me on it.
Underlying the apparent seamlessness of talent and skill are many different activities, all coordinated. Writing is not one activity but many, and each of us is not just 'a writer' but many different kinds of writer.
We are all a mixture of many different kinds of writer; but some of us start out being more one or two of these:
has a whole universe in his head, but can’t get that first scene written.
The draft horse has nine different versions of chapter 1, but no chapter 2.
The academic has lots of file folders crammed with notes, but hasn’t started the story yet.
The editor never finishes because the story “just isn’t quite right yet.”
The biographer has two hundred pages of dialog and character development, but nothing has actually happened yet.
The plotter has a lot of action going on, but there are no people in this story.
The essayist uses the story to make a point, and woe to any character or drama that gets in the way.
Recognize any of these traits? Chances are you have some of them. In my next post, I'll talk about how it is enthusiasm, and not some mythical trait like 'talent' that blends these personae in us; and I'll discuss how to dampen down the traits that you are over-emphasizing, and turn up the volume on the ones you tend to neglect. A good writer knows when to switch between these roles, and is willing to do it. We'll explore how that works, and how it can improve your writing.
Schroeder is the writer-in-residence at the Toronto Public Library.
Schroeder actually is the writer in res at the library. that's a typo, I assume, in the last line of the blog...
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